Chess
by ohwhatsherface
Summary: Chairman Durandal and Princess Cagalli play a game of chess to pass the time, relating the game to the real world.


**Disclaimer - I do not own Gundam Seed. **

**A short piece of randomness inspired by this absolutely beautiful piece of art; w w w . d e v i a n t a r t . c o m / d e v i a t i o n / 3 1 8 1 8 7 0 4 /. Check it out; I love it!**

-

-

**Chess **

_**Written By: ohwhatsherface **_

Chairman Gilbert Durandal sat comfortably on the black couch. Across from him was Orb's fiery Princess Cagalli Yula Attha, looking bored as ever.

Being the charitable man he was, the Chairman welcomed Representative Attha and her bodyguard, Alex Dino into his home and allowed them to stay there; some peace conferences were going to take place in the PLANTs in the next couple of days. Alex was standing behind Cagalli's chair; Gilbert offered him a seat but the bodyguard politely declined his offer and stood behind his charge, as if expecting an attack to come at her.

Between their two seats was a table with a board of chess on it.

Gilbert's lips curved into a small smile. Chess was one of his favorite pass times, and it wasn't everyday he had a new opponent to defeat. "Princess, would you like to play a game of chess?" He gestured to the table in front of them. The black side was facing him, and the white, her.

Cagalli bit her lower lip nervously. "Um…I'm not that good…" she explained to him.

"Have you ever played before?" he asked with curiosity in his yellow eyes.

She nodded. "Only a few times; once with my father, when he taught me how; I lost. Once with my old bodyguard, Kisaka; I lost again. And once with Alex—" Cagalli smiled at the man behind her, and then scowled right after. "—who beat me in about two or three moves…" She sighed dejectedly. "But yeah, like I said, I'm horrible at chess."

The chairman chuckled as the princess' bodyguard flushed red. "It's really not that difficult, Princess. Why don't we play a game?"

"Well…okay. But don't be too disappointed when you get bored. I'm not much of a challenge." She moved to the end of her seat to be closer to the chess board.

He simply smiled and she just sat there, not quite sure what to do. Cagalli looked at him expectantly.

"It's your move," Alex muttered through a cough. He cleared his throat afterwards and looked at the wall innocently.

Cagalli scowled at him and twirled her index finger around on top of her chess pieces sitting on her side. "Hm…" She smiled and went for one of her knights, moving it out and in front of her pawns.

He did the same.

Her forehead wrinkled as she stared at the board in deep thought.

Several moves had now been made as turns passed between the chairman and the princess.

"Um…"

This is what she hated about chess.

It was a battle; a battle that took strategy, patience and concentration, things that she usually left to Alex to think about, things she did not have and things that she was running short on. Cagalli sighed and closed her eyes. She pointed one finger out and waited for it to touch something; it was the pawn in front of the chess piece she often called the castle, shrugging, not quite caring, she moved it forward.

"Your turn," Cagalli stated while looking at the game dolefully. Chairman Durandal had taken out several of her other pawns and one of her knights. All she got was three pawns and a bishop.

"You seem unsure of what you are doing Cagalli," Gilbert stated while scanning the board.

She snorted. "I already told you, I'm bad at this. I can't play chess if my life depended on it."

The dark haired man laughed at Cagalli's comment. "Oh princess, if your life depended on it, I am more than positive you would win this game with flying colors."

"I don't think so…"

"Nonsense!" he interrupted cheerfully. "Let's pretend that you are apart of this game Princess." Gilbert looked through the remaining white chess pieces in their spots. "Pretend that you are the Queen."

Cagalli quirked an eye brow at him; was he serious?

"And all your remaining pieces are your army." He smiled at her. "You've commanded an army before I believe. You _did_ fight in the Bloody Valentine War. Were you not in charge of the Kusanagi?"

She shrugged. "Well yeah…sort of…ish…"

"Then think of it like this." He stretched out his index finger, pointing it at the white queen. "This is your general, you perhaps. And these—" His hand went over the remaining pieces under her command. "—are your soldiers; they are your army, made to protect you and your king." A thoughtful expression came to his face. "And the king…the king will represent Orb. Now if this were real life and winning, while losing as little pieces as possible was necessary, what move would you make?"

Immediately, her fingers grasped the queen and she moved it to the block beside her remaining knight.

Alex, who was standing behind her and observing the game, became curious. A move like that did nothing to help her gain access to the opponent's king, nor did it take out any of the enemy pieces. Both he and the chairman were confused. Why would she waste a move like that?

As if sensing the curiosity of both men in the room, Cagalli shrugged, her face turning slightly red. "You said to do what I'd do in real life…"

The chairman smiled and nodded his head. "I see."

The pair continued moving pieces around, taking things out.

Chairman Durandal was surprised; ever since he told the seventeen-year-old girl to compare the game to reality, the moves she was making were actually creating a challenge. Cagalli was frustrated; lots of her own pieces had been taken out by his _pawns_. How the hell did that happen? Biting her lip, she moved her queen and took out his second bishop. She smiled to herself when she noticed something. There was a pawn two spaces in front of his king, blocking her range to get it. If she got that pawn, he would lose! Just two more turns.

Gilbert smirked slightly, and moved the pawn that was in front of his rook. In his next turn, he would be able to take out the knight since the piece had no where on the board to move.

Cagalli saw what he was planning and frowned. She didn't want the knight to be taken out… Immediately, she picked the queen up and moved it in front of the knight.

Seeing the opportunity to make Cagalli lose her best piece, Gilbert moved the rook and took out the queen. After moving the white piece off of the board and onto to the table, he looked at Cagalli questioningly. "Why would you sacrifice your queen like that for a simple piece like a knight? It is hard to find a place for it to move sometimes…"

The blond girl shrugged her shoulders, not looking at him. "My knight is just as important as my queen, if not more," Cagalli responded firmly, concentrating on the chess board.

She swore she felt Alex's eyes on her and not the game.

The two played in a tense silence for a long time.

Soon Cagalli was left with not too many pieces, but her precious knight was still on the board, taking out various pieces from Durandal's side. She gasped when she saw an opening. A _winning_ opening. Cagalli picked up the white knight and dropped it before the king; a few other pieces of hers were around him as well. "Uh…"

The moment would have been perfect if she remember the word you were supposed to say when your opponent had no way of winning.

Alex coughed again. "Checkmate." He coughed another time and then cleared his throat.

Cagalli smiled. "Checkmate!"

The Chairman was quite surprised at his loss. The Princess had beaten him, with her knight making all the major moves and her queen out of the game. It was quite a shocker that she was able to do that. "Congratulations Princess. You did a very good job." He directed his gaze to the watch on his right wrist. "Well it is getting late, why don't we retire for the evening?"

The two teenagers across from him nodded and they began walking to their assigned bedrooms.

Alex turned to Cagalli with curiosity. The chairman was a good ten feet in front of the pair, leading them to their separate rooms. "Why would you sacrifice your queen when you could have won the game in your next turn? When you saved your knight, you almost lost."

They stopped walking when Gilbert did. He pointed to two rooms, side by side and then walked away after saying goodbye.

Cagalli opened her door and looked back at her bodyguard. "I was doing what he said!" she defended. "I related every move I made with something I would do in reality." She aimed her stare to the floor as her cheeks turned pink.

Her bodyguard just stood there with a quirked eyebrow.

With pink tinted cheeks, she smiled at him slightly, barely looking him in the eye.

"I would never let you die, Athrun…"

-

-

**Random. Review!**


End file.
